The Choreography of Modernism in France
La Danseuse, 1830-1930

Julie Townsend

Research Monographs in French Studies 28

Legenda

12 April 2010  •  154pp

ISBN: 978-1-906540-25-8 (hardback)  •  RRP £80, $110, €95

ModernFrenchDrama


Whether in the pages of a trashy novel, in the glow of gaslights, in a dance hall, or on the walls of art galleries, the figure of the female dancer haunts nineteenth-century French culture. Artists and writers of all kinds took on la danseuse as an emblem of their own artistic prowess. They represented her alternately as an elusive ideal, a saucy prostitute, or a dangerous seductress.  Dancers, in turn, produced their own images, novels and autobiographies, thereby contributing to an ongoing cultural debate around performance, spectatorship, desire, and art. In this interdisciplinary study of la danseuse, Julie Townsend examines the rise and fall of classical ballet, the phenomenon of the music hall, and the birth of modern dance. She highlights moments of representational crisis and emergent aesthetics in her consideration of poetry, novels, painting, early film, and women’s autobiography.

Julie Townsend is Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities in the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands.

Reviews:

  • ‘An engaging and concise chronology of modernism through dance, with the danseuse constituting the correlation between performing, visual, and literary modernisms.’ — Paul Ryan, French Studies 65.4, 2011, 545-46

Bibliography entry:

Townsend, Julie, The Choreography of Modernism in France: La Danseuse, 1830-1930, Research Monographs in French Studies, 28 (Legenda, 2010)

First footnote reference: 35 Julie Townsend, The Choreography of Modernism in France: La Danseuse, 1830-1930, Research Monographs in French Studies, 28 (Legenda, 2010), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Townsend, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Townsend, Julie. 2010. The Choreography of Modernism in France: La Danseuse, 1830-1930, Research Monographs in French Studies, 28 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Townsend 2010: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Townsend 2010: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)


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